The Ring Around Her Neck
by suspensegirl
Summary: 6x02 - She was his distraction, and her fashion designs had gone up in flames. She wasn't going forward, she was moving backward. Maybe it wasn't worth it to pull him along. CB o/s


A/N: Cause we were promised a gushable CB scene, and it was anything but (at least it wasn't up to my expectations). This takes place right after B gets kicked out & the Bart/Chuck confrontation near the end of the ep. Might be a little angsty at first (or entirely?) cause I'm a little bitter concerning my expectations for the ep which wasn't that great to begin with.

*I own nothing. No copyright infringement intended.

…

Being roughly pushed out onto the sidewalk – away from the party that was supposed to save her from the damage that was now coming swiftly down on her – was hardly how she'd planned to spend the evening.

She couldn't believe it. This morning her only disappointment had been not waking up early and waking up in an empty bed. Then Nelly Yuki, her high school minion, had determined her fate and she'd jumped to conclusions and Serena was back but still firmly decided that their friendship was no longer a good idea, a mistake in fact – at least that's what she had gathered from it – and oh yeah, now she had no leg to stand on. Anywhere. Her one highlight was Chuck showing up at the party, but he left so quickly it felt like it almost hadn't happened.

More than anything today she'd been determined to prove she could make her mother proud, that Waldorf Designs would be more than it ever had been before. And while losing the article wasn't the end of the world, it certainly put a damper on the success she could have had.

"Blair?"

She turned around to see Chuck exiting his limo, walking towards her.

"Chuck?" She furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. "What are you doing here?"

"I thought you wanted me to come back," he said with a slight smile on his lips.

"Well, yes, but you seemed to be in a hurry when you left. There's a reason I ended my good-bye on metaphorical terms." She smiled slightly. She was happy to see him, but she was still confused and bothered by her day.

"Yes, well…here I am." He paused, thinking over the situation and why exactly he'd come. Bart's last words had pushed him into thinking going to see Blair at all that day was bad. She was a distraction. So, why was he here? "Do you mind?" he asked.

"No, of course not," she assured. "I…well, things didn't go as planned tonight. My Blair Waldorf scheming got the best of me, I'm afraid. I'm gonna need a good night's sleep to prepare myself for the long day tomorrow. It'll be…rough."

His eyebrows furrowed in concern. "Do you need a ride home?"

She half-laughed. "Considering our…arrangement, normally I would say no, but I don't have a ride home at the moment, and it would take awhile for a cab or town car to get here, so…"

Chuck smiled slightly and wrapped his arm lightly around her shoulders.

"Come on, it's on the way."

She enjoyed the warmth of his touch, but once inside the limo she felt herself tense up. It was so different than the last time they'd shared this space. The events of the day were still riding her, and she knew she needed to vent to someone, but somehow she just didn't feel like it was appropriate. She'd already briefed him on the generalities anyways.

"I didn't expect you at the party earlier," she said softly.

He nodded. "I know. I didn't expect to be there."

He sounded disappointed, she thought. That made her heart sink.

"Who sent you the text?"

"Bart. He figured out what I was doing and used you to get me away from The Empire so he could keep me from accomplishing my goal, or what little of it I had to work with."

"Because I'm a distraction," she concluded.

He turned to look at her. "Blair…"

"No, no, no, it's true." She nodded, her heart breaking bit by bit. "The only reason you weren't able to stop him was because you thought I needed your help." She sighed shakily.

His mouth opened and then closed. He said nothing.

They were almost to her place when she spoke again. She turned to him.

"Chuck."

He met her eyes.

"Next time you get a text that you think is from me…ignore it."

His brows furrowed. "Blair…"

She shook her head. "I'm a distraction, Chuck. And every time we've 'waited' before we hardly interacted. I think that's what we need to do now." Her heart was breaking, but she was so frustrated with the day that she couldn't help but self-destruct just a little.

"No," he insisted. "It's not like before, Blair. This time it's different."

"Chuck, today was supposed to be the day I really took charge of Waldorf Designs and impressed it upon people that mattered. Instead of succeeding with that…well, it nearly went up in flames all because I was stuck in my Queen Bee Constance mode."

"You'll recover."

"I know. I always do. But…if we're counting on the two of us really growing up to the place where we feel sure of ourselves and that we've accomplished something great, well…I might be further off than you are."

His brows furrowed sadly and his mouth opened and closed but he couldn't think of anything to say but pleading her name, and that hadn't done him any good.

His eyes widened when she felt under the collar of her dress for the chain with his dazzling engagement ring and lifted it over her head, setting the sparkling pile in her hand.

"Blair-" he choked, because she couldn't be doing this. She just _couldn't_. That ring was _hers_ and he refused to take it back. "What are you doing?"

"I don't know when I'm going to be able to really grow up. Who knows if it'll be this year or next year or even longer, and you're clearly a long way off from figuring things out too, so…maybe you should keep this a little longer."

She held it out to him.

"Don't make me take that, Blair. It's _yours_."

"Just for a little while," she promised.

He was so in shock that he couldn't take it from her. He was starting to feel numb.

"Goodnight, Chuck," she said softly, setting the ring and chain on the seat beside him. "Thanks for the ride."

And before he realized it, she was out of the car and into her building. When he finally looked up, Arthur was driving away and that ring that he never wanted in his possession again was sitting on the seat beside him.

Another rejection.

…

Her new plan of action announced and her fears voiced to Dorota, she knew she should feel better, more in control, but she couldn't help but feel uneasy. She'd gotten a good night of sleep, or at least enough that would give her the strength and focus to come up with a new plan that would hopefully blow the fashion world away.

But she felt naked and bare without Chuck's engagement ring hanging around her neck. She regretted it the second she woke up. It had been a precious heavy-light weight dangling between her breasts all summer long. It gave her hope because it told her that no matter how bad it got, she was tied to Chuck for the rest of her life and she gloried in that.

Now she didn't know where they stood. She'd given him back his ring. If that wasn't a rejected proposal, she didn't know what that was. She hadn't meant for the gesture to have such…meaning behind it. She had just gotten the idea that maybe Chuck would have his goals accomplished before the end of the year. His "it won't be long, I promise" in the back of his limo last week had established that for her. There were still roughly four months left in the year. It wasn't like that wasn't a decent amount of time for him to achieve his goals.

But her emotions had been at an all time high last night and she just felt like it would take forever for her to achieve her goals, that her mother's company might very well go down the tubes in the process, and who knows when she'd be ready? And would he still want her then?

To say her emotions were dark was an understatement. Especially after hearing his explanation of his night's activities that very clear showed how much of a distraction she was. True that wasn't something she could fix because it had been his choice to go to her, even when she hadn't actually called him to come to her rescue. But somehow putting a pause to his assurance of having her for the time being seemed to be a good way to help him focus better.

It broke her heart, and whether she still felt those dangerous thoughts that had evolved the night before, she knew she shouldn't have given back the ring.

She regretted it more than anything else.

"Can I come in?"

She turned to see the great object of her desire at the door of her office. Her jaw dropped.

"Chuck," she said, shock clearly coloring her face.

He stepped inside and closed the door behind him, pulling the chain with the dazzling ring out of his jacket.

"I thought you might want this back."

She hung her head and slowly stood to her feet, circling her desk to walk toward him.

"Chuck, I'm sorry about last night. I shouldn't have…I mean, my emotions were just all over the place and-"

He stopped her speech with a sudden kiss. A muffled squeak was quickly covered by the quiet moan that escaped her as he deepened the kiss. Not a moment later, he broke away, pressing his forehead against hers as they both regained their breath.

"Don't ever do that again," he whispered, taking one of her hands and lying the ring on a chain in her opened palm.

She nodded against him. "I promise."

He pulled away a little more and cupped her face in his hands.

"You may be a distraction, but what happened yesterday was not your fault." He tucked a rebel curl behind her ear. "And besides, this morning I got a sort of tip that is going to help me along. It wasn't all in vain."

She managed a weak smile.

"I love you," he said, looking deep into her eyes.

"I love you too," she responded, getting lost in his eyes.

"Sorry I cheated," he confessed, and she knew he was referring to the kiss he'd surprised her with. "But in my defense," he continued, "You drove me to it." His eyes twinkled.

Suddenly, she felt lighter than air and more hopeful than she'd been since before yesterday morning.

"It's alright," she said, pulling him in for another kiss, which she was thrilled to see he did not resist in the slightest to. "I forgive you."

"Off the record?" he murmured.

"Completely," she whispered huskily against his lips.

A few minutes later Chuck forced himself to leave because they'd broken the rules several times over and he wouldn't let his desire from not truly having her for the last four months make him give in. They would have a lifetime of tantalizing kisses and love-making.

But he knew he'd have to walk it off more than once today.

Alone in her office, Blair slipped the chain back over her head and fiddled with the ring, staring at its sparkling wonder. She was blissfully happy with the ring around her neck. She wouldn't ever remove it again.

…

A/N: I know it was mostly angst, but I was frustrated with the ep. Heh. Please review. And be nice! =)


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